


Commonplace Rituals

by ifSarah_yes_elseNO



Series: Fun Times on Filigree Street [3]
Category: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, this is so sweet let me tell you right now, written in six's POV once again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27791605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifSarah_yes_elseNO/pseuds/ifSarah_yes_elseNO
Summary: The three times Six has accidently walked in on Thaniel and Mori trying to have a moment and her trying not to be rude.
Relationships: Keita Mori & Six & Thaniel Steepleton, Keita Mori/Thaniel Steepleton
Series: Fun Times on Filigree Street [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765702
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Commonplace Rituals

**Author's Note:**

> Beta-read by a fellow pulley fan in the discord yeah you know who you are you're so cool :))

Six had woken up when the sun was just starting to peek, a little stripe of yellow that met her eyes in the round attic window. It was too early for anything. She was thinking she might as well go back to sleep before she had to go to school in a few hours. But she needed to use the bathroom.

Nobody in the house was awake at this hour, not even Mori who she knew was always out and about in the mornings. There was no creaking below her. She tiptoed down the attic ladder as quick as a mouse, gently stepping over Katsu who had wrapped himself at the foot of the ladder.

After she had finished her business and was about to climb back up, Six saw at the corner of her eye that Mori's bedroom door was open ajar

Six didn't have any intention to spy or anything, but she had a clear glimpse of the room from where she stood. Mori always had his door closed whenever he went to bed but Six stepped closer, because she swore she could see her dad's sleeping face.

Oh, dad's with Mori again, she thought. It was such a throwaway remark, as simple as “I could fit in two more hours of sleep.”

The light was peering through the windows. The blanket wasn't fully covering them. The sun laid on their shoulders, its golden mouth covering them peacefully. They looked snug. Her dad had his arm around Mori with his chin resting at the top of his head. Mori had snuggled closer to him, a perfect fit in the cove of his body. They weren’t pretty sleepers, their hair was messy and they both snored slightly. But they fitted perfectly like gears, no more than a hair's breadth away from each other. They looked so warm. 

This wasn't the first time Six had found her dad sleeping in Mori's bedroom. If she ever wanted to find him in the mornings, that would be the first place she looked. It only made sense. She would find it strange when they weren't in the same bedroom.

Six closed Mori's door out of habit. She didn't want to disturb them. She climbed back up the ladder and went back to sleep, hoping Mori would cook eggs for breakfast. 

###  **

It was near the holiday season. Six could see the appeal in the festivities, she liked seeing all the colorful electric bulbs strung up on the streets like stars you could hold. It had given her an idea for her next project, after she had made her own chronometer, barometer, and even a metronome. That last one especially pleased her dad. Even if he was some sort of acclaimed musical genius, he still liked to keep it by his side when he was at the piano.

The idea stirred in her mind and she had some vague impression of what she wanted to build. But she knew she wanted to include the lightbulbs. Lightbulbs were always a good thing to include, no matter the situation. Perhaps a lighting device of some kind, one that you could take with you wherever you went and it would fit in the palm of your hand. 

In her room, Six drafted her idea with paper and pencil. She glanced at the books laid out before her, references she had chosen to help her flesh out the design. She took note of how some pictures in the books explained light and electricity and how they were applied to real life inventions. She stared at her paper, wondering what shape she should choose. Perhaps she could ask Mori for assistance. Six trusted his input when it came to these kinds of things.

Mori wasn’t in his room, nor the workshop or kitchen. She heard soft music coming from the parlour, which she immediately recognized as Christmas carols playing on the phonograph. 

Six peeked her little head past the door frame. Years later, Six would remember how intimate the scene she stumbled upon was. Something she felt like she shouldn’t be intruding upon, but it was only her dad and Mori. They weren’t doing anything wrong. She saw them huddled close, just like that one time she had found them in the morning. They laid under a blanket by the fireplace, quietly laughing with each other. They didn’t seem to notice her by the doorway. 

“Your hands are so warm,” Six’s dad whispered. He held Mori’s hands between the both of them. 

“ _ Anata _ ,” Mori had whispered back. She recognized that as a Japanese pet name. He didn’t use it often. Six only knew because Osei would use it with her husband whenever she was at their home for her kanji lessons. 

Six stared at the way they looked at each other. She didn’t think she was interrupting something. She had every right to ask Mori for a little advice about her project.

“Mori,” Six said as she walked towards them. Her dad got up surprised, his face blushing profusely.

“Six! I thought you were in your room!” He looked towards Mori helplessly. 

“I was. But I wanted to ask Mori about something.” She kneeled down on the carpet, sitting on the balls of her feet. Mori hadn’t gotten up, he laid calm as ever. Six showed him her draft and he raised it above him. 

“Well, here’s what you can do…”

Six laid on the floor beside him, resting her head on his shoulder like a pillow. She wouldn’t usually touch him unless it was necessary, but she’d rather lay on him than the carpet. She followed his finger to where she drafted the parts. Her dad had since calmed down and looked at the both of them, laying on his side once again. Six laid between the two of them. The attic was warm enough, but it was warmer here, between her dad and Mori. 

This would become one of those memories which she would carry like a hot coal in her pocket in the midst of a bad winter. When Six would recall childhood, she would remember the feel of the fire and her father figures beside her, Mori telling her about some engineering mechanic and her dad not understanding but listening anyway to their voices. It was all so familiar, a safe bubble only she thrived in. This is how she would define her family. 

(She wouldn’t remember, but she had fallen asleep listening to them talk long after Mori had given his help with her project. Then Mori would follow a bit after, leaving Thaniel to tuck them in with the thick blanket.)

###  **

Six has always been quiet enough that when she sneaks around, her dad wouldn't notice until she was under his nose. When it came to Mori, she had to be a bit more clever. But when he was distracted, she was lucky to be able to surprise him. But she's been told it's rude to sneak up on people. That doesn't stop her from doing it from time to time.

Katsu was in her arms, his eight legs gently swaying as randomly as they could, like any other mechanical octopus. She had scooped him up in the yard when she came back inside for supper. Six closed the door with her foot and brought Katsu to her face.

“I wonder what an octopus would taste like?” Six joked as she held Katsu’s cool metal to her cheek. As if he understood, he suddenly struggled from her grasp. She let him go and he scampered off. She peered through the kitchen doorframe. Later, Six would wonder why she didn’t interrupt Mori and her dad, but she knew why. Her mind always knew better than to ruin moments like these. 

Her dad sat at the kitchen table reading the  _ Illustrated London News _ . Mori was at the counter about to prepare dinner. Six saw the ingredients and didn’t have to worry if it was something bad. Her stomach grumbled. 

Wordlessly, Mori handed her father a hot cup of green tea and placed his hand on his back. He gave a silent thanks with the nod of his head. As Mori was about to turn away, Thaniel gently took his other hand. They were still, gazing at each other and their eyes occasionally drifted to where they touched. Thaniel’s hand was much larger, his thumb stroking Mori’s knuckles. It was as if it was a silent plea. A way to tell him to stay with him. Let me hold you for a minute darling, and then we can go back to whatever we were doing. 

Six watched as her father kissed Mori’s hand. And in response, Mori held his face and leaned down to kiss him on the forehead. On his temple. On his cheek. And finally on his lips. Thaniel lightly clasped Mori’s wrist as his face was held. 

Six felt her face. Why was it warm? Was she intruding again, she thought. She shouldn't be spying, it's rude to do so. But it was just them. She waited until they pulled apart so that she could enter the kitchen.

They didn't say anything when she took her seat at the table. But her dad looked flushed. Maybe even soft, his eyes jumping from the paper in front of him to Mori every few seconds. 

Six's little mind, and her little heart, knew why she didn't interrupt them. She gave them a moment like this because she loved them and she knew that only in the comforts of Filigree Street will they be able to act like this. Their home was a solace, and she wasn't about to make it a place where they couldn't be who they were. The three of them were made differently, she could see that.

Suddenly some faraway memory floated in her mind, something that had happened a few days ago. The three of them were walking in the park after Six had finished school for the day. She remembered she had passed a couple. She wouldn’t have noticed them otherwise, but they were holding hands. They were immersed in their tiny little world, laughing about some shared little inside joke. The man had given his lady a small peck on the cheek and she had leaned into his arm. 

She had made a face and wished that couple would share their affection elsewhere, for the good of the public. Six had taken Mori and her dad’s pocket watches then and clutched them. But she had held them closer than usual so that their shoulders bumped with each other more often, their hands brushing more. 

“Petal, are you alright?” her father had asked.

“Just fine,” and she brought the watches closer to her heart. She had looked up, then, and observed their faces. She can’t quite recall what they talked about, but they looked happy. Just as happy as the man and woman they had passed. Six realized that Mori and her dad didn’t really try to hide it when they were at home. She hoped that they could come to the conclusion that they could be openly affectionate in front of her just like any other lovestruck couple. Not too affectionate of course, she had her limits.

“Roku-chan,” Mori said, bringing Six back to the present. “Can you wash your hands and then help me set the table?”

Six got up, and in her head she counted the commonplace rituals that have become apparent in her life.

**Author's Note:**

> I have only ever written watchmaker fluff and i dont think,,,i will,,, stop. 
> 
> tumblr: @thenatashapulleyuniverse


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